help!!

I have been plagued by hives for 8 years. I have changed what i eat, what i wear, even my shampoo and ive stopped using all kinds of fragrances. I have had allergy tests and they say I'm not allergic to anything, yet I'm covered in hives all the time with maybe a day or two free. I am covered from head to toe literally and my blood tests are normal. My thyroid is comepletely normal and now I'm gaining weight without being able to stop it. I exercise and I've been eating only vegetables for the last 8 months and nothing is helping. Benedryl only makes it worse and my doctor gave me atarax for my itching. The atarax doesn't work and neither does cortisone creams, my face looks like I'm a sumo wrestler yet I'm not big enough to look like I should. I'm only 160 and now steadily gaining. I wake up literally scratching my skin off. I need some kind of miracle to stop these from ravaging my body is there anything else I can try?

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Normally, during the course of evolution from a baby to an adult, we develop a mechanism by which we desensitize ourselves to all the materials we are exposed to. But sometimes, the desensitization may not be perfect and we develop allergic reactions to those few substances. This is what happened in your case. On exposure to the allergen, an Immunologic (IgE) or a non-immunologic reaction is set in process, which ultimately releases histamine, which acts at the peripheral receptors, resulting in allergic reactions and hives.
The aim of the therapy is identification and removal of trigger factor. It is the most important and the only effective long-term therapy. To prevent the allergic reaction, the allergen needs to be avoided. Environmental triggers or seasonal or diurnal variations triggers may be difficult to avoid. But being aware will help to avoid the same.

Local measures like ice packs and antipruritic lotions are helpful. Antihistamines block the histamine receptors and prevent histamine from acting and thus help in preventing rashes. If the present anti histamines are not very effective you can consult your doctor for long acting ones.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.